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1st The long-suffering Mark Kenas, cursed for eternity to only play games in the international Collins lexicon, finally broke through the barrier that his twin tormentors present him on a weekly basis, finishing 4-0 +267. His perfect record stands in stark opposition to his 0-4 effort the week before. Mark started off strong with a 486-399 win against Charles Reinke, getting SERAPHIN and DISMALER to Charles' heavy-hitting IMBIBERS for 106 (a word which would have been more relevant last week, when we played at a bar). Mark followed that up with his big win of the night, a 510-406 slugfest against Thomas Reinke where, again, Mark was able to turn away a high-scoring opponent bingo (this time, EFTSOON for 106) with some of his own (SPEARMEN, OUTTRICK, INOSITE). Another big win against Charles followed, 488-441, this time with Mark finding DENOTING, MOSSING, and UNHIVED#. Perfection was attained when Mark downed Thomas in the final round, 423-394, appending three more bingos to his sizable list of bonus plays: TRIMERIC, ANALECTS, and AUNTLIKE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz topped 400 in all his games as he went 3-1 +304, nudging up his yearly win percentage by just a little bit as we head into the last few months of the club season. Bryan's first round match against Ron Malzer went exactly to plan with a big 452-367 victory, supplemented by bingos of NUTRIAS and ATTENDS. Another solid win followed as Bryan felled Sara McLaughlin 414-319, getting SLINGER to her CAMERAS. Bryan kicked into high gear in round three with his highest score of the night, a 467-324 win against Lynda Finn. Bryan got TAMEINS, SLANDER, and the crafty OOMIAKS (an alternate spelling of our beloved UMIAQ) as his bingos. A 4-0 outing was in grasp heading into the last round, but Bryan fell just a bit short of Andy Bohnsack, playing one bingo (DIALIST) in a 401-420 defeat.

 3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 (or "three and Mark") with a +356 spread total. A 399-486 loss to Mark at the outset was a bad omen, but a good omen quickly arrived to supplant the bad one as Charles proceeded to defeat Richard Lauder 458-330. Charles found ICICLES and INFORMER in that one, while Richard had SULTANA. In round three, Charles played a two-on-one and split the pair, losing to Mark 441-488 but winning against Andy Bohnsack, 469-356 (Charles had the straightforward GIRASOL and AUDITED, while Andy had the flashier HETAERIC). The best was saved for last as Charles romped in round four, defeating Lynda Finn 508-259 on the back of INKPOTS and BESTIAL.

1st Charles Reinke convincingly took the top podium spot with an unblemished 4-0 +725 record and a quite obscene 528 per-game average, his highest ever session average (topping a 524 back in 2015). Drawing off the frenzied energy of the gathered patrons of the bar next to our temporary playing area, Charles' Scrabble dominance could only have been stopped by a well-aimed barstool to the head, which (un?)fortunately did not happen. His only game below 500 was a 478-422 win over Mark Kenas in his first game - a 122-point 3x3 of SONICATE was helpful there.  Playing two-on-one against Lynda Finn and Richard Lauder in the next round, Charles won both games by substantial margins, 537-313 against Lynda (bingos: LEGATEES, CODRIVER, DUSTMAN) and 586-312 against Richard (NONGLARE, PLAUSIVE, COPEMATE, SNAKEPIT, LARDIEST). Charles got a repeat win against Mark Kenas at the end of the night, 511-340, a score that should not be taken as any kind of indicator of Mark's inebriation (or sobriety) at that late stage of the evening.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +389 with a hefty, but ultimately unimpressive when compared with his brother's, average of 479 per game. He got an early Collins-lexicon win against Mark Kenas, 418-395, despite just one bingo of VEXATION (Mark found DITTIES, SINGING, and word-of-the-week PHORONID). After taking a break to eat some food (verdict on Hank's Italian Beef Burger: good, but too much mayo [who puts mayo on Italian beef?]), Thomas returned to notch another win against Mark, this time a bit more convincingly, 452-340. His bingos were AIRSOME and TEARGAS, showing he is not above playing common, high-probability bingos when the situation calls for it. Thomas ended his abbreviated session with a ruthless 566-312 beatdown of Andy Bohnsack, bingoing with the fearsome foursome of OUTSAID, ANALYZED, TOASTIER, and VANITIED.

3rd Andy Bohnsack returned from a somewhat lengthy absence to go 3-1 +19. Things started off nicely with a win against the current top dog of the club, 436-411 vs. Bryan Benwitz. Andy immediately found his bingo mojo (bojo?) with COARSER, NEGATORS, and ADOPTING; Bryan had VERNIXES and FORENAME. A lower-scoring 377-358 win over Richard Lauder followed, but it was just the calm before the storm as Andy then went ham on Sara McLaughlin, prevailing in their encounter 551-322. Sara did get down EARLIER in the midst of the drubbing, while Andy got EIDOLON, CURTAILS, and TONIEST. Andy's 3-0 record was looking pretty good at that point, but it all came crashing down in a spread-obliterating 312-566 match against Thomas Reinke, a loss that even a basket of chicken tenders couldn't assuage.

1st Thomas Reinke laid down the letter(s) of the law against most (but not all) of his opponents with a 4-1 +155 record. He reached his high-water mark promptly in round one as he stomped his brother Charles by a score of 519-343, finding BRASHER, ENSNARL, and LANGSYNE in the process. Following that was a two-on-one set where Thomas just barely managed to convert both games into wins, 461-455 against Mark Kenas and 381-379 against Sara McLaughlin. Thomas showed off the wide range of his word knowledge in those games, finding REACTIVE, OFFENSE, INOSITOL, TAVERNA, and PECTIZED. The winning streak continued with a 462-389 win against Bryan Benwitz, where Bryan was held to just one bingo (OVERSTAY) while Thomas had three (PEACOATS, UNIDEAED, ERECTION). For those keeping score at home, Thomas was 4-0 heading into round four, but the perfect night was spoiled by a hefty loss to Mark Kenas, 357-459. Mark got down HASTIER and REBADGED#, while Thomas had CONTRIVE for his single bingo.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged 470 points per game while going 3-1 +356. Bryan got into his groove early with a nice even 500 points scored against Dave Kinzer, whose 269 points fell well short of victory (although a bingo of FLEETEST helped ease the pain). The run of 500-point games continued as Bryan vanquished Lynda Finn by a score of 506-390, with bingos of UNITAGES and BLUSHES (Lynda found ATOMIZER and the very-very-very-high-probability RETINAE). A 389-462 loss to Thomas Reinke brought Bryan's winning ways to an end, but the late arrival of sugary treats provided by the choir next door buoyed Bryan to a fourth-round win against Charles Reinke, 486-404. EROSELDY, UNSEATED, and SHOTTING were Bryan's bingos in the final game.

3rd Sara McLaughlin reversed her 1-3 record from last week to go 3-1 +127. Continuing the trend of peaking early, Sara's best game was in round one as she soundly defeated Helen Flores 420-322; her bingo find of BLEARIER was the only bingo on the board when all was said and done. A very close game against Thomas Reinke ensued, but it sadly ended with Sara on the losing side, 379-381. Word of the Week honors went to Sara's play of PLAYBOY - nobody tell the church that we sit in their basement forming risque words like that. After ths loss to Thomas, Sara faced off against Lynda Finn as part of a two-on-one and took full advantage, winning 374-351. Her final act was a tight 371-363 victory against Richard Lauder, where Sara's single bingo (this time, REPOSING) prevailed over Richard's REROUTE and SHANKED.